CMHC releases latest housing report

CMHC releases latest housing report

The Crown Corporation's revenue increased in 2016 and other highlights from the annual report.

“We generated profits of $1.4 billion on revenues of $4.7 billion in 2016. Profits were 2.5% better than plan primarily as a result of higher bond yields in our investment portfolio,” CMHC said in its 2016 Annual Report. “We controlled spending and improved operating budget expenses from the planned 13.3% of revenue received to 12.3%. We also generated a competitive return on capital holding target of 11.6% in the Mortgage Loan Insurance Activity and returned 13.5% on required capital in our Securitization Activity.”

Revenue was up by $57 million year-over-year. Despite exceeding its profit targets, CMHC announced a hike to its mortgage insurance in early 2017.

The Crown Corporation had a busy year in 2016, setting its sights on addressing affordability.

“In 2016, CMHC truly re-emerged as Canada’s authority on housing,” Evan Siddall, president and CEO at CMHC, said. We significantly increased our support for Canadians in housing need through renewed investments in affordable housing; we led a national consultation to inform Canada’ first National Housing Strategy all while supporting Canadian’s access to housing finance through our ongoing mortgage loan insurance and securitization activities.”

CMHC also mentioned its work on helping to manage risk in Canada’s housing market last year.

“We maintained our focus on becoming a world leader in housing risk management. In 2016, CMHC worked with the Department of Finance to support economic growth and strengthen our housing system through changes to the rules for mortgage loan insurance,” CMHC said. “We also implemented market-level pricing for all of our commercial products. We supported our Department of Finance colleagues in the development of a lender risk sharing proposal that aims to rebalance risk in the housing finance system by requiring lenders to bear a modest portion of loan losses on any insured mortgage that defaults.